Desk Based Assessment at Kings Academy, Station Road, Cheddar

DBA to support planning application for new floodlighting on existing tennis court, and extension of existing single-storey building at the site entrance on Station Road. Avon Archaeology Limited was commissioned by the Wessex Learning Trust, to undertake an archaeological desk-based assessment of land within the boundary of the Kings Academy in Station Road, Cheddar, Somerset. The project was undertaken in relation to a proposal to erect a new set of floodlights next to an existing playing court at the school. The Academy buildings occupy a site which is iconic for early medieval history and archaeology at the national level. This is because it was occupied by a large, royal timber hall, which was frequented by the Kings of Wessex in the pre-Conquest period. It is likely that by the 9th century this centre functioned as a hunting lodge, but Cheddar had in fact almost certainly been a part of the Wessex royal demesne since the 7th century. The Anglo-Saxon hall was the subject of a series of seminal excavations by Philip Rahtz in the early 1960s, and it remains an extremely important type-site for this class of monument. There are also numerous indications of extensive activity and occupation of Romano-British date in the wider environs of the Academy, and immediately to the south and east of the Academy site, partially in the garden of Cheddar vicarage, there is known to be an extremely substantial Roman building, and indeed possible hints of a small Roman 'town'. In the grounds of the Academy itself, at least one burial of Romano-British date has been recovered in modern times during construction work on the site. As a result of the clear archaeological significance of the site, it has been formally designated as a Scheduled Monument, the boundary of which takes in by far the greater part of the Academy campus although not, it should be noted, either of the parts of the site which are actually proposed to be developed. A trawl of the online historic environment record maintained by the South-West Heritage Trust returned numerous items, archaeological reports and interventions, including a number of historic buildings, in the immediate vicinity of the site. As might be expected however, the trawl was dominated by the Anglo-Saxon hall, its associated features, and finds and sites of Romano-British date. It is important to note that the entire area of the central, historic core of Cheddar, including the study site, has been formally designated by the local authority as an Area of High Archaeological Potential, notwithstanding the fact that the full extent of the archaeological resource within the designated area is unknown. At the present state of knowledge, therefore, and on balance, the archaeological potential of the site is likely to be moderate to high.